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Pakistan Super League 2023

Watch: Little-known Pakistani quick castles Sarfaraz with 150kph rocket, smashes stumps with beauty in hair-raising PSL five-for

by Wisden Staff 3 minute read

Watch: Multan Sultans fast bowler Ihsanullah clean-bowled Sarfaraz Ahmed of the Quetta Gladiators with a 150 kph delivery in a PSL 2023 match on his way to sensational figures of 5-12.

Sultans captain Mohammad Rizwan opened bowling with Akeal Hosein and Sameen Gul after opting to field at the Multan Cricket Stadium. Gul took out Martin Guptill in the third over, while Abbas Afridi got Abdul Bangalzai in the fifth.

Rizwan summoned Ihsanullah in the sixth over. At that point, the Gladiators were 37-2, with Jason Roy and Sarfaraz at the crease.

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Ihsanullah’s first ball was fast, and Sarfaraz pushed it to mid-on. The second ball was just slightly short outside off, and it missed Sarfaraz’s attempted wild slog.

The third ball was on off-stump as well, but pitched up more than the previous ball. Sarfaraz attempted another slog, but at 150 kph, it was too quick for that shot. The ball took the inside edge and ricocheted onto the stumps, and Sarfaraz walked back for a seven-ball two.

There was little respite for new man Umar Akmal, who was both cramped for room and hurried for pace off the next ball. Akmal took a wild swipe at Ihsanullah’s next ball and missed, and finally got off the mark off the last ball.

Ihsanullah continued to wreak havoc. He soon had Roy (27 in 18 balls) caught at mid-off and trapped Iftikhar Ahmed leg-before with the next ball. He also had Akmal caught behind and Naseem Shah bowled, with this ball perhaps the best of the lot: Full, fast and homing in on off-stump. That took his figures to 5-3, with a properly historic set of figures on the cards. He ended with figures of 4-1-12-5, with Quetta Gladiators bowled out for 110.

Now only 20, Ihsanullah debuted for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in this season’s Pakistan Cup. With 25 wickets from 11 fifty-over matches at 19.96, he had finished behind only Usama Mir. He also had 22 wickets (at 28.22) in the first-class season.

However, the Multan Sultans had picked him up before that, ahead of the last edition of the PSL, though he had bowled only 20 balls across two matches. He picked up Kamran Ghulam and Hussain Talat of the Lahore Qalandars in the opening game of this season’s PSL to finish with 4-0-37-2.

Watch the Ihsanullah highlights below:

The dismissal of Sarfaraz in a one-run over:

The dismissals of Roy and Iftikhar in two balls:

The dismissals of Akmal and Naseem to take his figures to 5-3:

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